MEM

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb(Rev 22:1)

For His Glory!

Message

Eternal Life
What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
What shall we do?

Just Believe?

John 3:15

(NAS unless indicated -Bolding by MEM) that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

What did Yeshua

(Jesus) Say?

Luke 10:25

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" 27 And he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Luke 10:28

And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."

Mark 12:28

And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"

29

Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)31 "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' (Leviticus 19:18)There is no other commandment greater than these."

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Deuteronomy 10:12-13

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

and to keep the LORD's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

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So how are we ever going to achieve this required love?

Yeshua

(Jesus) says we can have all the help needed

John 14:15

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that isthe Spirit of truth, …you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:26

"…the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

John 14:23

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.

Col 1:26

that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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But what shall we do?

Acts 2:37

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"

Acts 2:38

And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself."

and consider our neighbor as oneself comes as a fruit of His Spirit. Therefore ask and you shall receive for it is His great pleasure to give His Spirit to those that trust in His Word and His love and keep His Commandments. Luke 11:13 "…how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

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He who truly loves the Lord will love his brother. - The Complete Book of Zingers

Saying(s)

"The surest way to ruin a man that does not know how to handle money is to give him some." George Bernard Shaw

Prov 11:28

He who trusts in his riches will fall…

Matt 13:22

"And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Rev 3:17

'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked…

Heart of God

How does God feel about issues we face today?

Love One Another

Yeshua (Jesus) told his followers that the world would know that they were his disciples by the love they had for one another. Does this imply that it is less important to love those outside the faith? This relates to another encounter He had about love in which the question came up: ‘Who is my neighbor?’ Yeshua told a story about a man who was attacked. Who came to his aid? You know this as the story of the Good Samaritan. The doctrinal differences and separation of the Jews and Samaritans were central to this story. He answered the question of who is my neighbor in the widest possible sense. So also the answer to loving one another to show that you are Yeshua’s disciple should be answered in the widest possible sense. (Adopted from a blog post by Dale Cresap)

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

(John 13:35)

Material in this section is based on various prayer diaries.

Did you know?

Who Knew.....???

*2 tough questions*

Question 1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant,
Who had 8 kids already,
Three who were deaf,
Two who were blind,
One mentally retarded,
And she had syphilis,
Would you recommend that she undergoes an abortion?

Read the next question before looking at the response for this one.

Question 2:

It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts…
Here are the facts about the three candidates.

Candidate A:
Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists.
He's had two mistresses.
He also chain smokes
And drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B:
He was kicked out of office twice,
Sleeps until noon,
Used opium in college
And drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

Candidate C:He is a decorated war hero,
He's a vegetarian,
Doesn't smoke,
Drinks an occasional beer
And never committed adultery.

People always emphasize the negative-no one puts up a sign: Beware-nice dog. - Complete Book of Zingers

Simple Bible QuizJ. Vernon Jacobs

A man looked at a burning bush,

A lovelier sight than roses

He left the sheep, but kept his staff.

His name, you see, was ________.

(If needed see end of MEM for answer)

Lighter Side

There were four churches and a synagogue in a small town: a
Presbyterian church, a Baptist church, a Methodist church, a Catholic
church and a Jewish synagogue. Each church and the synagogue had a
problem with squirrels.

The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn’t interfere with God’s divine will.

At the Baptist church the squirrels had taken an interest in the
baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a water slide on the
baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels
liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim so
twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.

The Methodist church decided that they were not in a position to harm
any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and
set them free near the Baptist Church. Two weeks later the squirrels
were back when the Baptists took down the water slide.

But the Catholic Church came up with a very creative strategy. They
baptized all the squirrels and consecrated them as members of the
church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue, but it’s rumored that they took one squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel on their property since.

Honor

Last time we wrote about honor, we can dishonor YHVH by having another god before Him.

Could something else be first place in our life that is above God?

Matt 19:16

And behold, one came to Him and said, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?"

Matt 19:17

And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."

Matt 19:18

He said to Him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?"

Matt 19:21

Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Matt 19:22

But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property. 23 And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Matt 19:25

And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" 26 And looking upon them Jesus said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

(Note, eternal life is synonymous with entering the Kingdom of God.)

Life in Messiah

No Problems?

When you came to Yeshua (Jesus) did you expect to have a life without problems? What did you find instead? That you had problems similar to those around you and to the ones you had before you met Messiah? In addition you find that if you follow Him you are more concerned to avoid sin, and no longer have the love and acceptance of the world. Don’t be discouraged, but recalibrate your expectations to realize that a life without problems is not possible or desirable. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but He delivers them out of them all. In the world you shall have tribulation but cheer up, for Yeshua has overcome the world. (Adopted from a blog post by Dale Cresap)

Rom 8:31

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Rom 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matt 5:10

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12 Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Therefore

Rom 8:28

…we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Message from the Psalms

Ps 119:47-48

And I shall delight in Thy commandments, Which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Thy statutes.

When we love God the Father and Yeshua, His Son, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). Therefore the promise is Eternal Life (Luke 10:25-28). Meditate on these things.

Ps 118:21

I shall give thanks to Thee, for Thou hast answered me; And Thou hast become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. 23 This is the LORD's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

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Blessed be YHVH (Genesis 14:20

And blessed be God Most High…)

Bible Trivia Challenge

What's In A Name?

In ancient times, names weren't chosen just because they "sounded nice." Most biblical names had specific meanings in their original languages (Hebrew and Greek). Below are the meanings of the names of several bad guys of the Bible, and to make your guessing a little easier, we've supplied the book (or books) of the Bible where you can find that character. Keep in mind, as elsewhere in this book, that the bad guys weren't bad all the time, so in this list you'll find some names of folks who were, on the whole, good people, but on some notable occasions wandered off the moral path.